UK Wildcat Country

It’s amazing what you can find when you clean out your closet. I thought this tape had been misplaced, gone forever. But here it is, and I can’t wait to watch it and recap it. I’ve already said pretty much all I can say about the 1994 team since I thought I had finished that series, but let me try to fill in some details. After beating Louisville in the season opener, the team suffered an embarrassing loss to Indiana. Rick Pitino called that game the second poorest game UK had played in his tenure up to that point, only behind the loss to Pittsburgh in 1992. I guess when you lose by 55 to Kansas, you tend to forget that one ever happened, but I digress. Going into the Maui Invitational, the Cats seemed to have put it all together, and Rodney Dent had emerged as a serious offensive threat inside. I think he set the field goal percentage record (12-12 against Morehead) during this stretch, a mark that I think might stand forever. In Hawaii, UK put on a defensive clinic against Texas and an offensive clinic against Ohio State, setting up the title game against Arizona.

Arizona was legit in 1994. They might have been fool’s gold during the previous season where they lost a 2-15 matchup against Steve Nash and Santa Clara, but they returned pretty much everybody from that team. The backcourt of Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire went to the NBA, but Reeves didn’t do much. In Joseph Blair and Ray Owes, Arizona had bruising forwards that looked to be matchup problems against the undersized UK counterparts. Arizona’s biggest problem was that they weren’t a particularly deep team, with those four guys providing 95% of their scoring. I think ace recruiter Josh Pastner might have been a 12th man on the team. Other than that, I don’t remember any of the other Arizona players. From the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, our announcers are John Saunders and Bill Raftery.

The crowd was about 90-10 in favor of Kentucky, like it always is at Maui. To the surprise of everybody, Kentucky opened up in a 2-3 zone, maybe to make up for the inability of Travis Ford to guard Reeves or Stoudamire. At the bottom of the screen, Tubby Smith’s Tulsa team is taking it to Arkansas in a shootout. Arizona popped the crowd early on with a backdoor lob from Stoudamire to Reggie Geary for a large dunk, but Ford came right back with a three and UK opened up an early four-point lead. This gym in Maui must have had great shooter’s rims, because Stoudamire came right back and drilled a contested three in the face of Ford. There were lots of threes in this one, guys. Jared Prickett carried the early load for UK, running the floor on the break and actually hitting shots at point blank range. Ford found himself open off a curl and buried a three from straightaway. Yes, I am keeping track of the threes. If not for the hot shooting of Stoudamire, Arizona might have been put away in the first half. Rod Rhodes buried a three from the corner and Jeff Brassow tipped one in off the offensive glass (the second time it had happened, so watch for a pattern), and the good guys led by five. Another Rhodes three sent the game to a commercial break, and the first ad was for “The Club.” Remember The Club? There’s no way that thing could prevent somebody from breaking into your car.

Arizona chipped into the lead while Kentucky’s starters were on the bench, but as the starters slowly reentered, the lead grew. Gimel Martinez, Stoudamire and Tony Delk hit threes on three consecutive possessions, and the UK lead was 35-26. Stoudamire pulled up on a stepback move and drilled another contested three, but Delk responded in kind. Arizona made another short run, keyed by Stoudamire and the ability of the other Wildcats to get to the FT line. But then, with the score 40-36, Kentucky went for the kill. Martinez made a three. Why did Arizona keep leaving him open at the top of the key? Didn’t they scout UK? That’s Jimmy’s sweet spot. Ford hit a runner from 15 feet, Prickett scored on a tough hook in the lane, then Walter McCarty tipped in a Martinez miss with an absolutely disgusting dunk. That dunk triggered one of my favorite Raftery calls ever: “WALTER TO THE ALTAR!” Stoudamire capped off the scoring with a three from NBA range, ending a 21-point half as the good guys went to the locker room with a 49-41 lead.

The second half started with a scoring outburst from Khalid Reeves. Kentucky had done a decent job of holding Reeves in check, but the UK guards switched defensive assignments at the half, meaning Ford was now on Reeves and Delk was on Stoudemire. Dent picked up his third foul on an illegal pick call. At the time of that foul, Dent had fouled as many times as Arizona had the entire game. How fair is that? Owes hit a tough turnaround jumper to cut the lead to three, but Ford answered with an extremely long bomb. A follow by Dent made it 54-47. Another string of buckets by Reeves and Blair cut the lead to 58-56 and led to Kentucky calling a timeout to refocus. Apparently, the focus was on hitting threes. Jeff Sheppard came in off the bench and hit his patented three off the curl that won the 1998 title, but at this point in the game, with Dent having picked up his fourth foul, Arizona could get whatever they wanted on offense. Rhodes jumped into the passing lane and threw down a nasty tomahawk jam to silence the small desert contingent, but Stoudamire came right back with a fadeaway from 17 feet. Arizona could not miss during this stretch, but fortunately, neither could Travis Ford. His three brought the UK lead back to six, but Reeves stripped Sheppard, scored on the break and Shep fouled him. Jeff was in the game because Delk had picked up his third foul early in the half. A putback by Arizona’s Corey Williams cut it to 66-64 as the intensity picked up something fierce.

With Arizona threatening to take the lead, Travis Ford launched another one that went in from Mauna Loa. Even thought Kentucky was shooting the three at a ridiculous clip, they couldn’t shake the other Wildcats because Khalid Reeves had taken over the game. When he wasn’t launching and hitting bombs, he was drawing fouls and getting to the line. Another Ford three gave UK a 76-71 lead, but then Stoudamire put on the breaks and hit a rainbow jumper from 15. With seven minutes to go, Ford had to go to the bench with his fourth foul. Free throws by Stoudamire made it a 76-75 game, and with several key guys in foul trouble, it looked like the momentum had finally swung the way of Arizona. Yet, Kentucky fought back with willpower as Prickett outfought two other Wildcats for an offensive rebound and scored. A three by Reeves finally gave the other Wildcats a 79-78 lead, but Dent tied it at the FT line. From this point on, no team would lead by more than three. Rhodes posted up the smaller Arizona defender for an easy basket, but Reeves came right back and scored an and1 amongst the trees, drawing the fifth foul on Dent. On a lot of these baskets by Reeves, Kentucky couldn’t have played better defense. It was just an outstanding move by Reeves. Prickett gave UK the lead again from the line, but Williams tipped in an Arizona miss to tie the game at 83. During the period while Ford was on the bench, Rhodes played the point. Now that’s versatility.

The last three minutes and change were as good as any game you’ll ever see. Reeves stepped back and drilled a tough three in the face of Ford. Martinez posted up and used his plethora of moves inside to score. Blair scored on a busted play to give Arizona the 88-85 lead (Prickett’s expression after the near turnover turned score was one of “Oh, COME ON!”), but Delk tied it up from way downtown. After a solid defensive possession, Ford gave UK a 91-88 lead on a three where he was falling away to the left. What an impossible shot that was. It’s one you have to see to believe. Prickett annihilated two other Wildcats on a screen to spring Travis free to launch that bomb. Reeves drew a quick foul and made both shots from the line. Reeves shot and made more free throws in this game than Kentucky did. Arizona forced a shot clock violation (terrible call, as Rhodes’ shot barely touched the rim), and on the ensuing possession, Reeves drew another foul. His two free throws gave him 31 points and gave Arizona a 92-91 lead. I don’t know if UK was out of timeouts or if they just refused to use one, but they went right into the play and Rhodes launched a prayer with way too much time left. The shot clanged high off the rim, but Jeff Brassow moved inside Reeves on the block, then used whatever strength he had left in his barely functioning legs to get up, tip the shot in and you know the rest. Brassow comes up big, indeed.

That is either the best or second best game in the history of the Maui Invitational (MSU-Gonzaga ’06), and one of the best early season UK games ever that didn’t involve Louisville or Indiana.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and it’s official – I have to get to a Maui Invitational before I die.